Authors: Elizabeth Hunter
The low chatter in the room grew louder, and Giovanni stepped forward to speak.
“Vampires of Rome, I was trained by my sire to be the most rational of our kind. He desired that I exhibit knowledge and reason alone. I did not subscribe to superstition or magic. I believed only in what could be tested and tried.” Giovanni looked around the room, then down to meet her eyes. “But some things, I have learned, have no rational explanation. Some things are far greater than what can be seen.”
He looked around the hall. “We are not only creatures of the elements. Though these elements preserve our bodies, they are
not
the eternal energy of our souls. We are
more
. All of us. We are more than creatures of the physical world.” Giovanni turned to his grand-sire, placing a hand upon the giant’s shoulder. “We are creatures of the heart and the spirit. Of energy and things unseen. If we seek to preserve our bodies without accepting our need for humanity and what they offer us,
we will be lost
.”
He turned to Arosh, who gave him a respectful nod. Giovanni said, “We are
not
all-powerful, my friends. Even the greatest among us have been forced to acknowledge this.”
Arosh spoke again. “Be rid of this poison and be rid of your foolish pride. Though the great Kato grows strong again...” He glared at the vampires who surrounded them. “And will soon be as strong as ever—not even he could heal himself. Giovanni Vecchio has helped to heal him.”
A brave voice called from the back of the room. “But Giovanni Vecchio killed his own sire!”
Arosh frowned. “If he hadn’t, I would have. Andreas refused to grant me a favor.”
The room fell silent again. Beatrice wanted to ask why refusing a favor was such a big deal, but decided that it wasn’t the best time. She finally heard Livia speak. The favor thing must have been serious, because for the first time, the scheming water immortal’s voice held a note of calculation.
“My lord Arosh, forgive my ignorance. And forgive my earlier outburst. I was enraged by the thought of my mate’s murderer standing before me. But if you say Giovanni Vecchio has your good will—”
“I did not say he had my good will,” Arosh scowled. “That is not easily bestowed. I said he had granted me a favor, one that his sire would not.”
Livia nodded respectfully, her face a picture of accommodation.
Unbelievable, Beatrice thought, she was actually trying to get out of it. Livia continued in an ingratiating voice, “But if you would only forgive my earlier surprise. I had no idea that my husband had displeased you, or that his sire was in need of—”
“But Livia”—Giovanni stepped forward, still holding Beatrice’s hand—“you just finished telling this court that Andros had no secrets from you. Arosh, did you not tell me that Andros knew of the elixir and its effects?”
The ancient king shrugged. “Of course. I told him when I asked him to help his sire. He knew exactly what the elixir did. And, I’m assuming he would have told his wife when he stole the book containing this formula from my library and brought it back to Rome.”
Giovanni looked around the room. “Then surely Livia knew as well! For she and Andros had no secrets. Surely her ‘dear friend’ Lorenzo knew when he gave Lucien Thrax the fatal dose. They have deceived you, Rome. They hope to profit from this formula. To become rich as their enemies grow weak. They would use this elixir, not to cure bloodlust, but to kill us. To kill the humans we value. It is not the elixir of life. It’s the elixir of death.”
The water in the air that Beatrice had been holding began to shake again, as Livia quaked with rage. Beatrice pulled away from Giovanni and held her hands out, forcing the water away from the ring of flame that protected them from the multitude of black-clad guards. She eyed the one nearest her, measuring how quickly she could take his weapon from him.
Giovanni’s skin began to heat, and she saw the smoke rise above his collar. Arosh was looking around the room in amusement. “I see great fear on many of your faces. I believe some of you have taken this elixir already. Foolish vampires! Is your sire alive to heal you? I hope so, for your sakes. Come, my friends, you have wise immortals among you.” Arosh gestured toward Emil. “You are the people of the great sea! Kato’s heirs. Rid yourselves of this poison she has spread and appoint a leader worthy of you.”
Beatrice’s eyes flew to Livia. She was livid. The appeasing expression on her face had vanished and her arms were raised over the crowd.
Beatrice felt Giovanni’s hand tighten around hers and knew he had seen the insane glint in Livia’s eyes, too.
Not good.
The water in the air crept along her skin. The flames around her surged. And Beatrice’s heart sped for a moment, then fell completely still as Livia whispered, “Kill them all.”
Chapter Thirty
Castello Furio
November 2012
As if they had choreographed it, Ziri grabbed Kato and Arosh, then took to the air in front of Giovanni as soon as the words left Livia’s mouth. He looked up and caught the other fire vampire’s eye, and Arosh grinned as the room erupted in violence.
“Do not get yourself killed, Giovanni Vecchio! Remember, we have a deal.”
So they would fight Livia and her guards without the help of the ancients. Giovanni wasn’t surprised. Arosh and Ziri had their own agenda, and risking their lives in a fight that was not their own was not part of it. Giovanni could see Emil calling to those vampires loyal to him as they rushed Livia’s allies.
His eyes swung toward Beatrice, but she had already leapt through the circle of flame, bashing in the head of one guard with a swift kick before she grabbed his weapon and the weapon of another guard she quickly beheaded. He felt a spray from overhead and looked up to see Tenzin with her scimitar out, locked in struggle with a ferocious Matilda. A moment later a long, pale leg dropped to the ground between Giovanni and Carwyn, and the earth vampire bared his fangs and grinned.
“Can’t let the girls have all the fun, can we?”
“Never!” He dropped the circle of flames that protected them a moment before the water Beatrice had been holding showered around him, soaking him to the skin and dousing his flames. Carwyn rushed Bomeni, and the two crashed together like twin boulders before they rolled across the floor and the ground buckled beneath them.
Giovanni scanned the room. Where was Livia? The front of the room was a mass of swirling black as Livia’s guards protected their queen. He cut through the crowd, slashing with the dagger he had brought, the same one she had plunged into his body in rage. He felt a sword slash at the small of his back before a spray of blood hit him. He turned to see his wife grinning with bared fangs as she took down another guard.
He took two strides to her and grabbed his mate in a fierce kiss.
Beatrice bit his lip and said, “Hey, handsome. Nice to see you.”
He elbowed a guard that tried to attack them, grabbing the vampire’s sword as the guard fell to the ground and Beatrice cut off his legs. Giovanni licked the blood from his lip and smiled. “I missed you, Tesoro.”
“Same here. Now let’s kill this bitch so we can go home.”
She pulled him down for one more swift kiss before she spun away, slashing with the twin sabers she had stolen.
Giovanni headed toward the front of the room. He had a sword but no fire. His hair was wet and moisture clung to his body. Giovanni looked up for Tenzin and yelled, “Bird girl? A little wind, please?”
Tenzin curled her lip, but grabbed Matilda by her long blond hair and swung her across the room where the vampire was bashed against the wall and slid to the ground. Tenzin directed a strong gust that dried him as he walked toward Livia’s position. The flames sparked on his skin, and Tenzin’s wind fanned them higher as he looked for his prey.
A streak of red darted by and he saw Donatella Conti rush toward the back doors where she battled the guards who were cutting down those running to safety. Many of the younger, weaker vampires were desperately trying to escape the battle, so he abandoned his search to help Donatella. She saw him approaching and shouted, “The doors! They’re oak!”
He nodded and summoned two streams of flame. With one, he blasted back Livia’s guards. The other, he aimed at the giant arched doors that sealed them in. The smoke began to fill the room as the lacquered oak caught fire. Within a few moments, the doors were crumbling, and the drapes in the room had been set aflame. Donatella flung water from the fountains to douse the flames and quell the growing panic.
“Go!” she yelled, and the younger vampires ran from the room. Donatella plunged back into battle, her brilliant red cocktail dress slashed and ragged. She grinned at him as she ran past, grabbing a sword from the ashes near the door.
“I like your wife, Giovanni.
Fantastic
boots.”
He gave a hoarse laugh. “I’m fond of them, myself.” Donatella disappeared into the melee of vampires still battling, cutting toward her husband who was in the center of the battle. They were greatly outnumbered once the younger vampires had fled, but were still holding their own.
Tenzin was battling in the air. He didn’t see Matilda, but some of her entourage were keeping his old partner occupied. Sprays of blood rained around him as Tenzin cut them down, one by one. Carwyn and Bomeni were evenly matched, and the floor buckled as each tried to best the other. Though Carwyn was as occupied keeping up the support pillars in the room as he was trying to best the other vampire.
Beatrice was cutting down the guards that swarmed near the front, slowly but surely making her way forward. Most of the guards were water vampires, but were no match for his mate’s power. She slapped at them with the water from the fountains and spun gracefully. Giovanni saw her take out two guards with one slash of her sword.
But he still didn’t see Livia.
As he walked through the room, he sent out his fire, trying to avoid allies while killing enemies. Battling in enclosed spaces had always posed a problem for him, unless he wanted to kill everyone in the room. He cut back a few guards with his sword as he searched. He caught a flash of blond hair and saw Lorenzo dueling with Emil Conti.
Just then, he felt water splash against his feet. Giovanni looked down to see a few inches of water had covered the floor.
A lot of water.
He felt the ground shake and looked for Carwyn.
Bomeni, playing to the strengths of his allies, had opened a crack in the floor, splitting the foundation and the earth below it. Giovanni finally spotted Livia. She was standing in the corner of the room, pulling groundwater from the river that flowed under the castle.
Too much water.
It splashed up around his feet. At the speed and power with which she was drawing it, the room would be filled in no time. The fire along his torso sizzled out. There was no way Tenzin would be able to dry him when she was battling six of Matilda’s guards in the air. Carwyn was holding off Bomeni with one arm and keeping the ceiling from crashing down with the other. Emil was dueling Lorenzo, as his allies battled Livia’s.
As Giovanni dispatched four of Livia’s guards, he saw a red-clad arm float by. He spun just in time to see Donatella Conti take a deep breath. Her eyes were wide and hollow when the sword slashed her neck and her head sailed across the room, landing with a splash as Emil roared out at the death of his mate.
Giovanni’s eyes sought Beatrice. She was holding her own, trying to make her way toward Livia, but he saw her arms were bloody and torn. The room continued to flood with water. They had lost one of their fiercest fighters. And the black clad guards poured into the room like a never-ending stream of death.
He needed to end this.
“Beatrice!”
Chapter Thirty-One
Castello Furio, Rome
November 2012
She heard Giovanni call her name from the back of the room. Beatrice cut off the heads of the two guards in front of her before she sped back to where he stood. Livia’s guards did not follow. They were completely focused on protecting their mistress, who seemed to be pulling water from the ground itself as the battle raged around her. Giovanni grabbed her and slashed at the vampires that fell on them.
“Beatrice, I need to end this. Now!”
“How?” she cried. “There’s too much water!”
Beatrice glanced toward Carwyn. The earth vampire seemed to have finally stabilized the pillars that held up the room, so he turned his attention fully on Bomeni. The fierce immortal bared his gleaming white fangs and sprang on the her friend, but Carwyn caught him and locked his long arms around the man’s chest, crushing his ribs with an audible crack before Bomeni howled in pain and fell to the ground. Carwyn stood over him, took the vampire’s head between his hands, and twisted it off in a spray of blood and gore. Then he roared and started into the mass of twisted bodies where Emil still fought.
The room was filling with water. Massive blocks of marble had fallen in front of the doors, so they were blocked, and Livia’s guards still outnumbered them.
Giovanni yelled, “Carwyn!”
The earth vampire turned and looked to them. Then he sped back, tossing away the vampires that followed.
“We need to do something!” he panted. “This water, Gio—”
“It’s filling up the room.” He shook his head. “I can’t build any flame, and even if I could, our allies are scattered. It’s not safe. I would kill our own people.”
“Carwyn,” Beatrice said. “Get to Emil. I’ll try to push the water back, but I’ll need his help.”
Carwyn nodded, but before he could leave them, a drenched and tattered Tenzin appeared with Emil gripped in her arms. He was wounded and bleeding from a deep cut to the neck.
“Your son almost killed him, my boy. I managed to grab him, but I think Lorenzo has fled.”
Giovanni said, “Forget him right now. We need to kill Livia. Can you get to her?”